Trapped Inside These Four Walls
by Literally Dawsey
Summary: After Matt got called out for a construction job that was tied to part of his Alderman duties, Gabby tags along to spend more time with him. But when the sound of explosions fill the air around them, Matt has more than just his and Gabby's safety to worry about. Find out if they both make it out alive...
1. Chapter 1

"Sooooo, why'd you choose contracting?" Gabby asked, already knowing the answer. She was stood in the middle of a warehouse watching her fiance drill a screw into a plank of wood; sweat was running down his neck but she couldn't help but smile.

"Why do _you_ choose to be so annoying?" He replied with a beaming smile as he turned around to face her, his arms outstretched and the drill now off but still in his hand.

"Touché." she laughed as she walked lazily a little distance from him before turning back and continuing to watch him work. "Can I get you a drink?" She asked, now so bored she felt as if her brain was going to explode.

Matt stood up a little quickly, which put her on edge a little, and made his way over to her. The look on his face wasn't very clear and she didn't know what it meant so she braced herself for all the different outcomes that he could give her. "Gabby, look. I know you're bored but you are the one that said you wanted to come." He stopped to take a breath and placed his gloved hands on his hips. "I would have been happy to come alone - like all the other times."

Giving a cheeky smile, Gabby walked towards him and placed her arms around his stomach, her hands going through the gaps in his arms where he still had his hands on his hips. She felt him sigh and roll his eyes. "But I wanted to be here," she started in an overly flirty tone as she rested her chin on his chest and looked up to him. She watched a smile slowly slide onto his face. "I didn't want to think that you'd be all here alone."

"God you're hard work." he exclaimed finally as he copied her and pulled her towards him until her body was pressed against his. It was nice that she had come to spend time with him while he did his extra job, the company was nice for a change. However, the fact that she was constantly asking him questions was a side of her that he had never seen before.

As part of his new Alderman duties, Matt had been asked to go and check out a warehouse in his ward to make sure it was within the right limits of the state. However, on first inspection, there where some parts of the building that needed a bit of work due to the age of the structure. So, being the man that he was, Matt offered his services (out of the line of his Alderman work) to come and bring the last minor details back to the way that they should have been so it passed the test.

Gabby knew that Matt would be gone a pretty long time when he told her what job he had offered to do. She had already been left at home alone with Louie while he went to public meetings as well as board dinners and other 'fancy alderman stuff' as she liked to call it, and with Louie staying over with Antonio for the night - she had nothing to do. That was the reason why she had tagged along. She wanted to be able to spend more time with him - just the two of them. No doubt, she loved the time that she had with both her boys, but like hell did she miss the odd occasion that her and Matt had a moment to themselves.

"Ahhh, Alderman Casey. Its so nice of you to…Oh-" the owner of the building stopped, now realizing the situation, as he rounded the corner from the break room out into the main floor of the warehouse. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

"Oh no, you weren't." Matt replied as he took a step away from Gabby and tried to make his voice sound as normal as possible. "We where just having a-"

"Conversation!" Gabby jumped in feeling slightly uncomfortable with the situation she had been put in so suddenly. Then at a second thought, she wasn't sure if it was the situation she ha been put in that made her uncomfortable, or the man she had just been introduced to. She had always been a big believer that if Matt felt comfortable in a situation then everything would be fine, and she was just overreacting. However - today was one of those days that she went against that belief.

The man continued to walk towards them - a smile on his face but that wasn't what Gabby was looking at. She was fixated on his lack of ability to dress himself and Matt caught on that she was staring at him. "Gabby!" He hissed, trying not to move his mouth so that the man couldn't tell he was trying to get her attention. "Gabby!" he tried again unsuccessfully.

"Matt," The man continued as he reached them, Matt's attention dragged away from Gabby and now he was staring at the man himself. He was unable to find what she was looking at so harshly and decided to try and make things more normal by looking like he was interested. "I really appreciate you coming to do this out of your own time. I can imagine that being a firefighter doesn't leave you with the most spare time!"

"You're right there Mac," Matt replied with a false smile and a laugh, "But anything for the people of my ward."He told truthfully. "I became the alderman for a reason."

Mac held out his hand and Matt shook it. "And a good one you are at that! Well, I better let you and miss here get back to work. Let me know if you need anything!" he called over his shoulder as he exited the way he came.

Matt instantly turned to Gabby and gave her a harsh look. He wasn't annoyed at her for anything, he was just so confused at why she was acting so far out of the ordinary. "What's wrong with you today?" he demanded trying to keep his voice quiet enough so that they didn't draw attention to themselves from the other men that where working about the warehouse around them.

"Nothings wrong!" she exclaimed as she tried to turn and walk away from him.

Before he had a chance to grab onto her shoulder to stop her from walking away, a huge thud came pulsing thought the floor. Matt and Gabby both dropped to their knees, their arms covering their heads to protect them. The sound of an explosion was heard on the far side of the warehouse and that was enough to make Matt's protective instinct fly into overdrive. Getting up as fast as he could from the floor, he sped over to his fiance and dragged her to her feet. She was still in shock and didn't react straight away. As they ran across the wide floor of the warehouse, small explosions sounding like they where getting closer with every step they took, shaking the ground beneath their feet. Matt guarded Gabby with his body until they came across the door that opened into the break room. Reaching and turning the handle, it quickly became obvious that it was locked. With annoyed but desperate huff, Matt's body reacted without him thinking - all of his fire academy teachers voices clouding his judgment, but he knew the only way that was efficient enough to save them from whatever was happening around them. He turned and slammed the base of his foot against the weak wood of the door. It instantly gave way and they ran in together, Matt's hand pulling Gabby so that she was forced into the safety before him. As soon as they where in, Matt closed the door and pressed himself against it to make sure that nothing else could come in. Now slowly trying to catch his breath back, he lifted his eyes from the floor and watched Gabby look round at him, a look of pure fear written across her face.

"What the hell was that?" she panted out of breath, as her scared eyes meet his.

"I have no idea…"


	2. Chapter 2

Matt started to pace. He was running his hand through his short blonde hair and was slowly beginning to realize how panicked he was feeling. He was stuck in a small room, that seemed to have one door, other than the one they came through, that was locked. They where trapped and he did not like the thought of that. Above the door there was a little glass panel, Matt had a light bulb moment and suddenly felt a wave of power course through his body. Walking over to a table, ignoring Gabby's question of what he was doing, he pushed it towards the door and climbed on top.

The floor was covered in a white rolling substance that created an eerie looking fog across the area that he could see. Matt was no chemist but he knew that an industrial factory like this one would not be storing dry ice - the only other chemical compound he could think of that would create this illusion of a ground hugging mist.

Resting his head against the window frame he tried to force the panic that was clouding his mind to the side so he could think clearly. That second, the chemical compound 'sulfuric acid' came into his head and he stopped dead. That panic he was feeling slowly had started to make his mind race, to make him think of thoughts he didn't want to see, and the fact that they where all possible of coming true terrified him.

"Matt, what is it?" Gabby called from his feet making him look down at her. He could see the terror in her eyes, but he could also see the strength she was showing that she thought was hiding the fact that she was scared from him.

Matt climbed down off the table and walked over to her, his arms outstretched. She walked into them and instantly buried her face into his chest. "Nothings happening." he said quietly on instinct, without thinking, and instantly regretted it.

"Don't you lie to me Matt!" she cried angrily as she pushed him away. Her emotions of panic and fear now getting the best of her. She was scared and he knew that - the thing was, there was nothing he could do. Gabby turned and looked at him, tears now streaming down her face. "Please tell me what's happening." she whispered, it was like she had known that she had acted in the wrong way and now she was trying to act like the first responder she really was.

Walking back over to her, Matt put both his hands on her shoulders and she looked up to him. He took a deep breath before he started; "I don't know how it happened but what my guess is that over in the waste disposal shoot, the left over aluminium that they use for whatever they make here came in contact with the sulphuric acid they where storing, it wasn't on the record paper but its the only thing I can think of right now that would cause this - that was the first explosion we heard, okay?" He stopped to make sure she understood. Gabby nodded before he carried on. "What I think happened was that the explosion caused one of the large containers to rupture and now the acid is leaking out onto the floor. That stuff is poisonous, so if the workers couldn't find shelter-"

"Are we safe in here?" she asked, her normal confident self now reinstated. She had this look in her eyes, the one she got when they where on a bad call the he loved to see. It was like every single cell in her body was on fire - she was glowing with fear and anticipation.

Matt let go of her and headed for the door that he had previously tried and found that it was locked. "We're safe for now in here but if the acid reaches this part of the warehouse, that is when I have a prob-"

"Matt!" Gabby called making him look round. He followed her gaze until he found what she was looking at. Underneath the door, the same misty cloud was beginning to roll through and into the room.

"I need something to block the bottom!" Matt shouted making her react instantly.

They both began searching the cupboards and the lockers that where situated in the room until Gabby called out that she had found something. She came bounding over to him, a roll of red packing tape in her hand - it was moments like this when he knew he had fallen in love with the right girl. Hurrying over to the door, Matt and Gabby both got on their knees and desperately tried to cover the gap between the floor and the bottom of the door. After a few layers of tape, they had finally been able to block out the chemical that was entering their safe space.

A little while after the drama had happened, Gabby was sitting silently at one of the unmoved tables. Matt looked up from his hands and read her posture. Her shoulders where slouched forward and her arms crossed on the table. He knew she was scared (so was he) but the fact that they where stuck in here until the sound of sirens became audible, there was nowhere for them to go. He walked over and took a seat next to her, sliding his arm over her shoulders to try and calm her but he couldn't help but see how venerable she looked. Gabby had been pushed into an unfamiliar environment that she wasn't ready for. None of them where ready for it, but at least Matt had more of an idea of how to react in a situation like this. Gabby was great at her job, she was the best paramedic in the city and everybody knew that, but when it came to the firefighting side - he knew she was scared. "Hey, look at me." he said quietly to get her attention. She looked round at him and gave a little smile. "I know you're scared, because I am too, but just remember that we're here - together."

Gabby reached forwards and wrapped her arms around his neck, before resting her chin on his shoulder and letting her head lean against his. "I'm glad that you're not in here alone." she started, her voice so quiet Matt had to concentrate to hear her. "I was just thinking about how Louie would feel if he lost us. I mean he's already gone through it - it would break him for good if he had to again!" she pulled back so she could see him. "We can't do that to him Matt."

"And we won't, I promise you that we will be going home."

"You can't say that." She replied, sounding like she was about to say something else but didn't.

"Don't you trust me?" he asked with a little smile, he knew she would smile back.

"I trust you."

Suddenly, the door that was locked in the corner or the room began to pound. Both Matt and Gabby stood up from their seats and looked at the door in both shock and confusion. Through the frosted glass, the figure of an overweight man was using all of his weight to get through. Just as Matt started to move cautiously towards it, him signaling for Gabby to stay back, the door swung open and with a mix of thick black smoke and the coughing of the man, the room felt eerie once more.

Hurrying over to closet the door so no more of the toxic smoke could enter the room, it was made clear that the man was holding something. As the smoke began to dissipate, Matt and Gabby both saw what the man was holding and it was at that moment they could feel their hearts enter their mouths.

In the hands of Mac, who was now able to control his coughing fit, he lifted the gun in his hands and pointed it at both Matt and Gabby in turn. "Which on of you started the fire?!" he demanded.

Now Gabby was realizing why her sensors where going off so bad when she first met him. She could tell that he was more than what he had said he was, she had never felt so terrified in her life.

Mac turned and slowly started walking towards Gabby, the shotgun he was holding out in front of him the height of her chest - his eyes cold filled with fury and panic. His voice rose to an uncontrollable level of anger as he pressed the barrel of the gun between her two breasts - she knew that that was the place he would choose. Just before Matt was about to speak, Mac roared: "I said, which one of you started the god damned fire?!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys, thank you again for all the support that you give this book, reading dome of the reviews have been amazing! Make sure you leave a review so I can know what you liked and what you'd like to see coming in the future!**

 **\- F**

 **xxx**

Gabby could feel her pulse slamming in the base of her throat. She was terrified of what Mac was doing to her, even though technically he hadn't laid a hand on her. Looking up to her fiancé, Gabby took him in for everything he was. His wide blue eyes scanning the scene; his mind scrolling through every possible outcome of this situation, but finally her eyes landed on his lips. As she focused in on them, she could see that he was silently trying to calm her down. She watched as they shaped the words of 'You're going to be okay'; 'stand still and let me talk to him' but suddenly he stopped talking to her and she watched as he paused for thought.

Matt was desperately trying to keep the situation under control while Mac was ranting about the fire that had now been made aware to him. He now had one more thing to add to his pile of things that raised his blood pressure. Suddenly having an idea his comforting words, that he was mouthing to Gabby, stopped and his eyes began darting round the room in search for something he could use to defend her. Glancing over to one of the open locker doors, the one that had been kicked so hard when he was looking for something to keep the acid out a little while ago, Matt saw the handle of a large wrench end hanging out in plain sight. Looking over his shoulder to make sure that Mac wasn't looking in his direction, Casey made the bold move and lunged quickly for the tool. Just grabbing it in time, he turned around and was instantly faced with something he had prepared himself for. Mac had turned around just as he had managed to grab the wrench and was now pointing the gun at him. Now realizing what this meant, Matt was now thinking whether the move he had just made put his, but more importantly Gabby's, life in more danger.

Mack slowly moved his feet so he was walking right in Matt's direction, the barrel of the gun now inches from Casey's chest, Gabby finally found her voice.

"Stop!" she commanded, both Mac and Casey looking up at her in shock that she had spoken out loud. "Mac, don't do this." She paused for a shaky intake of breath as she felt a sudden wave of confidence fill her veins. "I know you're scared about what's happening out there - the truth is I am too, but turning to violence is not the way to show how you feel."

Spinning on his heal, the gun was now back facing Gabby, however this time she didn't feel the fear like she did last time. "Who the hell do you think you are talking to me bitch?" he hollered over the explosion, slightly louder than the ones before, that rolled through the air and shook the floor. "'cause I don't see you holding a gun."

"Gabby!" Matt started trying to advise her that what she was doing was stupidly dangerous, but deep down she knew what she was doing and he knew that.

"You're right, I don't have the gun. But what I'm asking you to do is not to point that gun at Mr Casey over there-" Matt was suddenly extremely confused at why she had chosen to speak his name in the way that she did, but then he realized she had done it to try and save him. She knew that if Mac worked out that they where a couple he would so something unspeakable to hurt the other. "- because you need him more than you think. If you have some weird desire to point your gun at someone, point it at me. I'm far less useful."

Watching Mac get lost in Gabby's words because he was so confused that she had actually been brave enough to talk back to him, Matt seized the moment and hit him round the head with the wrench as hard as he possibly could.

Reacting to the unexpected move Matt had just done, Gabby pushed herself up against the table and watched the overweight man drop the gun and fall to the floor - knocked out cold.

"Are you okay?" Matt asked as he picked up the gun and moved straight in her direction. She almost fell onto his arms as he reached her.

"Yeah," she panted into his shoulder as she tried to catch her breath. "Are you?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." looking at her she had a small smile on her face, it made a smile grow on his as well. "What?" he asked as she started to giggle.

"We make a pretty bad-ass team!" She laughed knowing that it was thankful laughter rather than humorous laughter.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that." He took a minute to look at her. "I was scared that he would hurt you." Matt shifted his weight so that his lips where rested on her hair.

"I'm okay, a little shaken but I'll live." Gabby replied as she moved so that she could see his face and sighed. What had happened was hard to deal with but she had remembered all the times that she had watched Matt (as well as the other members of the team) talk down people from doing something stupid. Although she was experienced in the art also, that may have been the most important time to use the skill. "You know I've done it before." she said with a flirty smile.

Suddenly, it was as if a switch had been turned on in Matt's brain and instead of replying to Gabby he turned way for her and headed to the closed door where Mac had come through. Before she had asked him what he was doing he had turned back to her and began to talk aloud the plan he was forming. "The fire in there looks like its getting out of control." He began pacing back and forth again in the small space, Gabby watching and keeping out of the way. "If we just leave it there is a good chance that the pressure of gas will build up and shatter the glass of the door…"

"Matt does that mean?" Gabby started, interrupting his downward spiral of thought.

"No." he said his face clearly showing that he was trying to hide his panic again - Gabby didn't like it. "But it does mean that if it does smash the glass, that toxic smoke will come into here and there is no where for is to go." He started to pace again uncontrollably. The thought of the glass giving out was now a ticking time bomb for their survival.

Suddenly, with a large bang again, another figure came looming as a silhouette on the other side of the locked door. Yanking him from the thought of anything happening to the person on the other side Matt flicked his head round to Gabby. Reading her face, he knew what the answer would be to the question he was about to ask but he could honor that.

"Matt don't." Gabby said solemnly but the desperation was clear in her voice.

"I can't leave them in there!" He shouted as he reached for the door handle, a female voice just audible shouting 'Help me!' over the raw of the ever growing larger fire in the next room.

"Matt you listen to me right now!" Gabby shouted as she forcefully made her way towards him. "You go through there, you're not coming back alive. You have no SCBA mask?!" Her voice rose as she was overwhelmed with bad thoughts.

"If that was you on the other side would you want me to come and get you?" he asked, now reaching her volume and tone of voice.

"That is not what I'm trying to say. How could you even ask that - I'm right here?!" she replied, the sick feeling of panic now opening up in the base of her stomach. She was scared because she knew him too well - the chance to save someone's life, to risk his own, was what he would always do and she loved him for being so selfless but now they had more to think about than each other. Louie was at home and for him to loose either one of them was a thought that ripped Gabby apart. "Matt listen to me, if you walk through that door you know that you're gunna die. With smoke that toxic one breath is enough to put you off your game!"

"I'm a firefighter Gabby!" He shouted turning back to her as he let go of the door handle. "I save peoples lives. If that means putting my life on the line to save a stranger in a dangerous place then that's what I'll do."

"Matt, you're insane and completely out of your mind!" she ran her hand through her hair and let out an exasperated sigh. "You can't just think of yourself in such a way, you forget its not the two of us anymore!"

He stopped and raised his eyes to hers, a mixture of fear and anger burning bright in his eyes. He loved Louie and Gabby knew that but this was not a situation he could argue with her about. He knew he had to do what was right. "Don't bring him into this." He said quietly through gritted teeth.

"Matt you know-"

"I said don't bring him into this!" He roared and kicked the wall.

Gabby was shocked that he had lost his temper, she had never seen him like this ever since she had known him. The stress was getting to him and he was trying to handle everything, she knew that she would not be able to do what he was capable of.

Walking over and searching the drawers to the cupboards he came across a dish cloth. Grabbing both ends he tied it over his nose and mouth and pulled his jacket over to give it some more layers. Gabby's heart started to beat faster. Matt stalked across the room, the fabric held across his nose and mouth, he looked like a man on a mission. With one glance over his shoulder at her he reached the door, Gabby lunged to grab him before he could make it through the small gap he had made to stop any more toxic smoke from entering the room. At the top of her lungs Gabby desperately called out his name but it was to late - the door had closed…


End file.
